Textile sample, showing multicoloured "wheat-sheafs" on a yellow ground and a round vignette showing a black-and-white photograph of a woman referred to as "MISS R.T.M.".
This fabric was made for ‘RTM’ (Radiodiffusion Télévision du Mali) which changed its name to ‘ORTM’ (Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision du Mali) in 1992. ORTM also has a radio station called RTM but if this cloth was made in 1986 it’s more likely to refer to the original organisation. The ‘Miss ORTM’ are annual competitions among young ladies, sponsored by the organisation that have continued until 2011. The events take place in Bamako and are diffused on the national TV channel and are very popular, generally hosted by one of Mali’s most popular female singers (such as Oumou Sangare in 2911). According to a news piece in ‘le Republicain’, the organisers at ORTM decided in 2012 to replace the annual event with a ‘night of solidarity’ due to the political crisis in the country. Some suggest that the women from the north of the country would not have been able to participate in the event. I couldn’t find any records for the Miss ORTM 1986, but suggest that the black and white image in this particular piece might be of the winner that year, or for the previous year because the events normally take place in November/December.
